NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Chapter 7 The Road Not Taken
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Q. Sometimes the choices we make have far-reaching consequences. Think about choices you make on a daily basis, and the importance of these choices.
Ans: Do it yourself.
Q. Complete the web chart showing choices and decisions you may have to make in the next few years and the factors that affect these choices. (Pay attention to the arrows.)
Share your choices and decisions with your partner.
Ans.
Q.Have you made choices that are acceptable and less ‘risky’ or have you followed the beaten track? Why?
Ans. Do it yourself.
Q. List common dilemmas that teenagers face involving the choice of one or more “roads.” Give examples of “roads” that you must travel (e.g. facing peer pressure, choosing friends, observing rules laid down by school and parents, acting on your own values).
Ans. Do it yourself.
Q. Listen to a recording of the poem.
(a) What choice did the poet have to make?
(b) Did he regret his choice? Why/ why not?
Ans.
(a) The poet had to decide which road he wants to take at the fork he was standing at. He pondered over it for a long time because it was an important decision and he did not want to regret a hasty choice.
(b) The poet did not regret his choice at the end because he was glad, he chose the less-travelled road which made all the difference for him. However, he did regret the restriction of only being able to choose one road.
Note: Read the poetry, The Road Not Taken, given in the book.
Q. On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by selecting the correct choice
(i) In the poem, a traveller comes to a fork in the road and needs to decide which way to go to continue his journey. Figuratively the choice of the road denotes
(a) the tough choices people make on the road of life.
(b) the time wasted on deciding what to do.
(c) life is like a forest.
(d) one must travel a lot to realise one’s dreams.
Ans. (a) the tough choices people make on the road of life.
(ii) The poet writes, ‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.’ The word diverged means:
(a) appeared
(b) curved
(c) branched off
(d) continued on
Ans. (c) branched off
(iii) The tone of the speaker in the first stanza is that of:
(a) excitement
(b) anger
(c) hesitation and thoughtfulness
(d) sorrow
Ans. (c) hesitation and thoughtfulness
(iv) Select the quote that captures the central idea of the poem most appropriately
(a) We often confuse what we wish for with what is.
(b) I have always been much better at asking questions than knowing what the answers were.
(c) You are free to make whatever choice you want, but you are not free from the consequences of the choice.
(d) To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.
Ans. (c) You are free to make whatever choice you want, but you are not free from the consequences of the choice
Q. Answer the following questions briefly.
(i) Describe the two roads that the poet comes across
Ans. The two roads started from the fork in the woods that the poet encounters. They both were equally less walked upon. Both have grassy paths that did not have leaves blackened by footfalls. Both the roads led to unknown destinations.
(ii) Which road does the speaker choose? Why did he choose that?
Ans. The speaker chose the second path, the road that was less travelled by. He chose it because it was the one which showed signs of less people having walked on it.
(iii) Which road would you choose? Why? Give reasons for your choice.
Ans. I too would choose the road less travelled like the speaker so that I can forge my way into new horizons and places where no one has gone before. This is because I love to explore new things.
(iv) Does the speaker seem happy about his decision?
Ans. No, the speaker doesn’t seem to have accepted his decision happily.
(v) The poet says “I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference.” What is ‘the difference’ that the poet mentions?
Ans. The choice of the road less travelled has made the difference in the course of poet’s life. He believes that if he had taken the first path his life would have been very different from what it is today.
(vi) Comment on Frost’s use of nature to establish a connect with a human situation
Ans. Frost uses an isolated setting of a dense forest to mimic the situation of how we alone have to face our choices without anyone’s help. The undergrowth at the bend of either road was hindering the poet’s view just like we can’t see what lies ahead of our choices before we make them.
(vii) The poem carries a tinge of regret. Do you agree? Explain with a reason.
Ans. Yes, the poem carries a tinge of regret. The poet expresses regret in first few lines about how ‘sorry’ he feels for being just one person who cannot travel two roads at the same time. Nor can he come back to see another road once he picks his choice and moves along with it.
(viii) Establish a connection between the given quote and the poem.
Ans. The poet at the end tells us how he took the ‘less-travelled’ road because he didn’t know what lied ahead. The only way to discover what destination the road lead him was to actually take the path himself.
Q. Read Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s ‘It Might Have Been’. [Link to the poem: http://www.ellawheelerwilcox.org/poems/pitmight.htm].
Compare the poem to ‘The Road Not Taken’ and complete the following, based on your insights.
Through a discussion, share your insight with others in class.
Ans. Do it yourself
Q. Identify the rhyme scheme of the poem, ‘The Road Not Taken’.
Ans. ABAAB is the rhyme scheme of the poem.
Q. Fill in the blanks to complete the following paragraph that highlights the theme of the poem. Use the words given in the box below
| decision | foresee | pleasant |
| fork | rewarding | wonder |
| sorry | choices | direction |
| trail | chance | both |
The poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is about the ______ that one makes in life. It tells about a man who comes to a ______ on the road he is travelling upon. He feels ______ that he cannot travel ______ paths as he must choose one. Frost uses this fork in the road to represent a point in the man's life where he has to choose the ______ he wishes to take in life. As he thinks about his ______ he looks down one path as far as he can see trying to ______ what life will be like if he walks that path. He then gazes at the other and decides that the outcome of going down that path would be just as ______. At this point he concludes that the ______ that has been less travelled on would be more ______ when he reaches the end of it. The man then decides that he will save the other path for another day, even though he knows that one path leads to another and that he won't get a ______ to go back. The man then says that he will be telling this story with a sigh someday in the future suggesting that he will ______ what life would have been like if he had chosen the more walked path even though the path he chose has made all the difference.
Ans. The poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is about the choices that one makes in life. It tells about a man who comes to a fork on the road he is travelling upon. He feels sorry that he cannot travel both paths as he must choose one. Frost uses this fork in the road to represent a point in the man's life where he has to choose the direction he wishes to take in life. As he thinks about his decision he looks down one path as far as he can see trying to foresee what life will be like if he walks that path. He then gazes at the other and decides that the outcome of going down that path would be just as pleasant. At this point he concludes that the trail that has been less travelled on would be more rewarding when he reaches the end of it. The man then decides that he will save the other path for another day, even though he knows that one path leads to another and that he won't get a chance to go back. The man then says that he will be telling this story with a sigh someday in the future suggesting that he will wonder what life would have been like if he had chosen the more walked path even though the path he chose has made all the difference.
Q. Roads are fascinating as metaphors for life, change, journeys, partings, adventure, etc. or simply as roads. This is probably why they, and all their attendant images, have permeated art, literature and songs. In the poem, Frost uses the fork in the road as a metaphor for the choices we make in life. Thus the roads are, in fact, two alternative ways of life. According to you, what are the other objects that could be used to represent life?
• River
• __________________
• __________________
• __________________
• __________________
Ans. River, Stream, brook, etc.
Q. In groups of six, select, write the script of and present a skit that demonstrates decision making and conflict resolution. Follow the steps given below :
• choices to be made,
• options to be considered
• influence of others
• decisions/actions taken
• immediate and future consequences of the decision.
Ans. Do it yourself.
Q. ‘The Road Not Taken’ is a biographical poem. Therefore, some personal biographical information is relevant for the deeper understanding of the poem we have read. Go to www.encarta.com and complete the following worksheet about Robert Frost.
(a) What “momentous decision” was made by Frost in 1912?
Ans. Frost moved his family to England in 1912.
(b) How old was he when took that decision?
Ans. 38 years.
(c) Why was it so difficult to take that decision? Think and give more than one reason.
Ans. It was difficult because he was leaving his country and going to another. He had no regular source of income.
(d) Was the “road” taken by Frost an easy one “to travel”?
Ans. No, the road taken by Frost was fraught with difficulties.
(e) Do you think he wrote “The Road Not Taken” before sailing from the USA to England or after? Can you quote a line or two from the poem that can support your answer?
Ans. I think he wrote it after sailing from USA to England as we can understand from the line. ‘I shall be telling this with a sigh, Somewhere ages and ages hence’.
(f) Do you think Frost finally became popular in America as a poet?
Ans. Yes he became a very popular poet in America.
